Fantasy Update

Hi ho everyone,

So I've been working on my Fantasy army a little bit this week. The big push was to assemble the two Morghast Archai I bought. Fantastic models that are taking way too long to build! Holy crap...20 pieces later and I only have a torso and two legs built. I pushed hard on Friday and finally got one of them finished.

That dude is a beast. I have about a third of the second guy put together. I have no clue how to paint this model. It has so many layers. Still, he's gotta get done...I will probably save these guys for last though. I need to brush up (har har) on my painting skills first. As you can see, I've already got most of them primed and built, and even did a test model here and there.

This past weekend was my club's big event, the OFCC (Ordo Fanaticus Club Challenge). It was a big, four day event with all things gaming, that ended with the major Fantasy and 40K tournaments. Normally they do two of these, one for each game, but this year they combined it into one single weekend of gaming. I think it worked out really well. I didn't play due to a conflict, but I was able to stop by and snap some great pics.

Just a sample of some of the awesome armies that showed up. I'm so jealous, my painting skills pale in comparison. But it gives me something to shoot for one day.

Also, this weekend was our 9th annual Portland IRSF Strollathon. It is a fundraiser for the IRSF (you can google it) which funds research for Rett Syndrome. This is very near and dear to my heart due to the fact that my wife is the one putting on the event and because my daughter has Rett. This year, we had the most families ever show up. My wife's goal is more about building up community than anything else, so she was thrilled to have such great attendance.

Well, that wraps up my weekend. I did get some time to take advantage of Neverwinter's 2x XP weekend and get four of my characters up past level 20. Horses for everyone! :) Till next time.

Warhammer Fantasy Escalation League

So my gaming club, Ordo Fanaticus, is about to start its Fall escalation league for warhammer. It is called Raindog's Rampage as it is hosted by Raindog. This is a staple of fantasy gaming here in Portland. With the new ET goodness and spark still burning bright, I'm going to go all in this year and finish up my army for it. To that end I've been assembling and priming my army. It starts off at 1000 points and works its way up to 1500. It ends with a one day tournament at 1500.

I'll be coming back with an Undead army as outlined in the new End Times book. It is mostly vampire counts, but I'll be bringing in the new morgasts as well as a Khemri unit or two. The new rules for undead are going to make it a bit more viable. You see I've gone down this road before, actually with both VC and with TK. However, the death of the general/caster has always crippled the army. One bad miscast and poof...there it all goes. Now that that nonsense is gone, it might be worth while to give it another go. Unfortunately, I traded off my TK a while back...so now its just VC.

I'm not sure how well the army will do, but it should be fun to give it a try. Here is my starting list:
Level 2 necro, lore of vamps, 5+ ward amulet, master of undead, channeling staff.
Cairn Wraith hero
20 skeletons with full command
15 ghouls with champ
7 dire wolves
corpse cart with unholy loadestone
3 crypt horrors with champ
2 morghast archai

I'll be going second most of the time due to the number of deployments. But I hope I can get favorable matchups then for my units.

Most everything is ready for paint. I just got the morghasts yesterday, so those will be built tonight with any luck. Then I just need to prime them and the characters, and I'm all set. I'll post up pics tonight once they are done.

Warhammer End Times

Warhammer Fantasy has been one of my favorite games ever since I got into it in the late 90's. I got into Rogue Trader back in the late 80's, but really only messed around with it a bit. Played some more of it in college, but really didn't go too deep. I had less than fifty models at that time, and those were scattered between marines, eldar, and squats. In the 90's some of my friends started warhammer fantasy. Now I had looked at it back when I first got into GW..but the sheer number of models needed scared me away.

Well now I had some friends getting into it, so I gave it another look. I looked at the Undead army because nothing seemed cooler than necromancers raising up an army of skeletons and zombies. Had I known something of the rules, I probably would have bought into it...but I didn't, and the stats looked horrible. So I instead went with the shiny new Wood Elf army that had just been released with an awesome new dragon model.

Flash forward nearly twenty years and I now own six sizable fantasy armies, and have had a few come and go. My current list contains the Vampire Counts, Orcs and Goblins, Dwarfs, Wood Elves, High Elves, and Beastmen. I've owned Empire, Dark Elves (twice), Lizardmen and Tomb Kings. Chaos never really interested me, nor Deamons...and while the Skaven are cool...another horde army is not what I want. Never could connect with Bretonnia and the Ogres were just meh.

Anyways, I used to be huge into WFB. I went to Grand Tournaments and organized events. I was a constant figure in the local tournament scene and earned a few trophies here and there. But all things wax and wane and so did WFB. I've tried to keep up with it over the years, buying books for my armies as they came out, and occasionally getting new models. But nothing ever re-lit the spark.

Well now GW released the End Times, book one, Nagash. A whole new story line featuring my favorite army, the Undead, has crashed into the Warhammer lore and hopefully has started a big change. I've read the fluff book and loved it, even when it broke my heart once or twice. The new book is breathing new life into the Undead armies of Warhammer as well.

That, coupled with my local game club starting up an escalation league...well, it seems now is a great time to paint up an Undead army once more. I was so inspired that I wrote up a quick 1000pt list, pulled out models, and did some priming last night.

First step was the priming board. I took one of my game table 2x4s and drilled half inch screws into it so that my magnetized models would be secure. Then I primed away:

And there you go. One regiment of ghouls ready for painting. I was able to get my skeletons, corpse cart, and crypt horrors done as well. Tune in for more updates.

5th edition D&D

As my profile states, I started out as an RPGer. D&D has always been my favorite game, and it is what always led me to make new friends. For the last few years, I haven't been playing it unfortunately. Standard excuses and reasons apply. Family, job, etc always seem to get in the way, or the real truth, it is very hard to find a small group of people that can get together once a week, every week.

Well that hasn't stopped me from buying the new Players' Handbook for 5th edition. And it hasn't stopped me from joining in on an Adventurer's League game at my local game store. So for four hours on Saturday, I get to don my armor and pick up my spear one more time and roll dice. I am really looking forward to it.

First things first though, I need a character. I've read about half of the PHB already, and I have to say, I really like it. This is an excellent rule set which really feels like the best of all the previous editions. The one class I really liked in 4E was the warlock...which was deemed way OP in 3.5 (for good reason). So it was pretty easy to choose this class for my first 5E character.

Now at first I was going to go with the typical Tiefling Fiend Warlock. But as I got into it, I discovered I like the half-elf better...plus it would fit in a bit more easily than someone who looked like an actual devil. I didn't really have much of a backstory for him yet, until I actually went through the background portion of the book. Normally I would have skipped this, but it was required for the AL game. Well lo and behold, I go through, find a background I like (charlatan) and then start filling out the ideals and flaws, etc....and boom, I have this fully fleshed out character background which I completely love! Now I have this half-elf who was abandoned by his elven father, who turned his charm and good looks into an steady income. When he finds his mother murdered, it leads him in search of a killer. That path takes him to a mentor, who not only expands his trade, but gives him a chance to take the power that could one day grant him revenge.

It was really quite amazing. This whole new life just blossomed right in front of me as I went through a few simple charts. Now I have a story, a motivation, traits, quirks and flaws. I have a person to really get into. That is what I love about D&D. I love that you can create so much and then write the continuation with a bunch of other people. It will always be my favorite game.

And so it goes...

Been a couple of weeks since I last posted...kind of, so here we go. First off, the D&D thing seems to be on hold. We got really close, and even got to meet the new guys, however, since then, the same old issues have come up, basically, trying to get five adults to decide on a single night that they can all meet on. Also, one of the five already dropped out. Man what a pain in the butt. So my crystal ball is telling me that the 4E group is basically a bust. Which kind of sucks, but not so much.

Mostly, because awesome 5th edition is out. The new PHB is awesome! One book, twelve classes, all the races....just like the old days. I have to say, I really like this edition. It feels like good old D&D, and yet it has lots of the neat mechanics that the newer editions brought out. So I really want to play..not DM...play. However, the same issues are always there...trying to find a group....find a night, and then actually start. It really sucks sometimes to be a gamer.

Hmmm what else...oh..I ordered my Nagash book. Pretty excited about that too. I'm a big undead player and have been playing vamps for a while. I also owned a TK army because the concept was just so cool. Unfortunately, in 8th, the army was fairly lacking. Plus, lots of really expensive models. Anyways, I traded the TK army away because "do I really need two undead armies?"....well guess what...apparently I do! Damn GW...they mashed the armies back together again! So I can have my cool vamps WITH super cool TK models? sign me up.

So basically, lots of stuff coming down the pipeline that I want to spend money on. Now I need the moneys. To that end, I've been trying to trade/sell my tyranid army, which apparently is the worst army in the world to try to sell. Ugh...so $1,200 worth of nids, and I can't sell/trade it at all (talking under 50% retail and still can't move it). And its not like I have limited myself in the options. I am open to Space Wolves, Dark Eldar (another army I love but got rid of), Tomb Kings....or money. You'd think I could trade something. Heck, I even was open to trading for Orks..which I have a ton of, but the guy never responded. Lame. Side note...if you are on Bartertown, and someone send you a message...have the courtesy to respond.

Oh, and I've been playing some Neverwinter online. I really like it. I wish again that I could find a group to play with..but so far going solo. Still fun though.

So that's where I'm at.

This week in gaming

Well for the most part I'd say it was a fairly unproductive week for gaming. I got lots done in the non-gaming world however, so at least my wife is happy.

I am still trying to sell my Tryanid army. I've got posts up at Bartertown and Dakka, and of course on my local board, Ordo Fanaticus. Nids are just not popular right now, in fact the market seems to be flooded with people trying to sell them off. Which is a shame. I like the army and the models, I just have too much stuff.

It would be great to sell it, because there is some awesome stuff coming down the line soon. As a long time undead player, I'm stoked about the new Nagash model and books. Overpriced of course, but what can you do...the models look sweet. And a new undead army to field....who can beat that? Maybe this will let me get some cool TK models again.

Also, would still like to add to my fledgeling Space Wolf army tool. Just need moneys.

I did start to put together my Dystopian Legions prussian gun team though...and with a new book about to be released, we may see some new models for that line. I would really like to own the blazing sun models too.

Which all leads back to, I need to cut down on my collection to make room for new stuff. What a terrible curse this is.

Oh, and it looks like the 4E D&D group is getting underway. I met with two new guys the other night for a little Q&A session. We need at least one more, so they are working on that aspect of it. Looks to be fun. I just resubscribed to DDI so that I can use the very helpful tools they have.

I also am planning on taking inventory on my 40K Orks. I may need to bust out a second table for that lot. There might be some fat to trim with those guys....I can't even remember all the stuff I have any more. Ugh.

Oh, and due to the Warmachine Kickstarter, I am in the beta for Tactics. Played a little bit so far...they need serious work done on the camera controls. But as a turn based game, not bad I guess.

Until next time...

D&D on the horizon

So my first love has always been D&D. I'd basically be playing that above everything else if I could. However, my luck with finding a good game is not the greatest. I've DM'd from time to time, but always prefer playing. However, with the D&D drought in full swing, I decided to see about starting up a 4E game again.

Now you may be wondering why a 4E game when 5E is just around the corner...well the fact is that I have a friend who is dying to play 4E, and I already have all the stuff for it, and also, quite honestly, it is a great system for the DM. I know it has its issues, what version doesn't? But still, I have lots of resources for it and I like it too.

The first problem to tackle though, is players. I've given that task to my friend. He gets to gather them up, weed out the weirdos, and hopefully have enough left to get a game going.

That leaves it to me to write the story. I've had a few ideas popping around my head for the last few years, and I've gotten maybe a few sessions written down. Now I have to get back into that frame of mind, flesh things out, and hopefully find something that is engaging, and collaborative. That later part is really important to me. I can lay down a rail line with the best of them, but I find the best stories are ones that the players help write.

Right now I've got two ideas. One is an evolution of a game I started years and years ago with 2nd edition. I think I have an interesting backdrop....but after a few sessions, not sure where to take it.

The other is a newer concept I was toying with to help players work together and for characters to survive. It is based off of a descriptive festival I once wrote on the Order of the Stick forums. I've actually developed an over-arcing plot for it...but not quite sure how the players fit in to all of it.

Part of me wants to try to combine the two. But they don't exactly fit together. The first concept is a home grown world that is fairly barren and not the typical high fantasy setting. The second world is more of a straight forward D&D world.

So on one hand, great background, but no plot....on the other, typical setting with a good plot, but no plan for how the characters fit in.

Maybe in a few days I'll post up the general outline of each and see which one sparks the old creative juices.

Till next time...